Competition among causes but not effects in predictive and diagnostic learning.

Causal asymmetry is one of the most fundamental features of the physical world: Causes produce effects, but not vice versa. This article is part of a debate between the view that, in principle, people are sensitive to causal directionality during learning (causal-model theory) and the view that learning primarily involves acquiring associations between cues and outcomes irrespective of their causal role (associative theories). Four experiments are presented that use asymmetries of cue competition to discriminate between these views. These experiments show that, contrary to associative accounts, cue competition interacts with causal status and that people are capable of differentiating between predictive and diagnostic inferences. Additional implications of causal-model theory are elaborated and empirically tested against alternative accounts. The results uniformly favor causal-model theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overt attention and predictiveness in human contingency learning.

Two experiments used eye-tracking procedures to investigate the relationship between attention and associative learning in human participants. These experiments found greater overt attention to cues experienced as predictive of the outcomes with which they were paired, than to cues experienced as nonpredictive. Moreover, this attentional bias persisted into a second training phase when all cues were equally predictive of the outcomes with which they were paired, and it was accompanied by a related bias in the rate of learning about these cues. These findings are consistent with the attentional model of associative learning proposed by Mackintosh (1975), but not with that proposed by Pearce and Hall (1980). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associative History Affects the Associative Change Undergone by Both Presented and Absent Cues in Human Causal Learning.

R. A. Rescorla (2000) noted that a number of influential theories of associative learning do not take the associative history of cues (i.e., the prior training that they have received) into account when calculating the associative change undergone by those cues. The authors tested this assumption in a human causal learning paradigm and found associative history to be an important determinant of the learning undergone by cues that are presented on a trial. Moreover, associative history was also found to influence the amount of retrospective revaluation undergone by absent cues. These findings conflict with models of causal learning in which the associative change undergone by an element of a cue compound is governed by a summed error term (e.g., R. A. Rescorla & A. R. Wagner, 1972). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention in human associative learning and recognition memory.

Four experiments examined the role of selective attention in a new causal judgment task that allowed measurement of both causal strength and cue recognition. In Experiments 1 and 2, blocking was observed; pretraining with 1 cue (A) resulted in reduced learning about a 2nd cue (B) when those 2 cues were trained in compound (AB+). Participants also demonstrated decreased recognition performance for the causally redundant Cue B, suggesting that less attention had been paid to it in training. This is consistent with the idea that attention is preferentially allocated toward the more predictive Cue A, and away from the less predictive Cue B (e.g., N. J. Mackintosh, 1975). Contrary to this hypothesis, in Experiments 3 and 4, participants demonstrated poorer recognition for the most predictive cues, relative to control cues. A new model, which is based on N. J. Mackintosh's (1975) model, is proposed to account for the observed relationship between the extent to which each cue is attended to, learned about, and later recognized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictive and diagnostic learning within causal models: Asymmetries in cue competition.

Several researchers have recently claimed that higher order types of learning, such as categorization and causal induction, can be reduced to lower order associative learning. These claims are based in part on reports of cue competition in higher order learning, apparently analogous to blocking in classical conditioning. Three experiments are reported in which Ss had to learn to respond on the basis of cues that were defined either as possible causes of a common effect (predictive learning) or as possible effects of a common cause (diagnostic learning). The results indicate that diagnostic and predictive reasoning, far from being identical as predicted by associationistic models, are not even symmetrical. Although cue competition occurs among multiple possible causes during predictive learning, multiple possible effects need not compete during diagnostic learning. The results favor a causal-model theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related equivalence and deficit in knowledge updating of cue effectiveness.

Knowledge updating involves learning about cue effectiveness based on task experience. Prior research has yielded inconsistent conclusions regarding age and knowledge updating. To resolve this inconsistency, the authors analyzed the effects of aging within a single paradigm. Participants studied cue-target associates during 2 study-test trials. Cues included rhyme cues and highly effective category cues. On each study-test trial, different items were presented, and participants predicted recall performance, received a cued recall test, and postdicted performance. Knowledge updating was operationalized as an improvement in the accuracy of predictive judgments across trials. An age deficit was evident in improvements in absolute accuracy, whereas age equivalence was evident in relative accuracy. Evidence suggested that deficient inferential processes contributed to the age deficit in knowledge updating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating advice and experience: Learning and decision making with social and nonsocial cues.

When making decisions, people typically gather information from both social and nonsocial sources, such as advice from others and direct experience. This research adapted a cognitive learning paradigm to examine the process by which people learn what sources of information are credible. When participants relied on advice alone to make decisions, their learning of source reliability proceeded in a manner analogous to traditional cue learning processes and replicated the established learning phenomena. However, when advice and nonsocial cues were encountered together as an established phenomenon, blocking (ignoring redundant information) did not occur. Our results suggest that extant cognitive learning models can accommodate either advice or nonsocial cues in isolation. However, the combination of advice and nonsocial cues (a context more typically encountered in daily life) leads to different patterns of learning, in which mutually supportive information from different types of sources is not regarded as redundant and may be particularly compelling. For these situations, cognitive learning models still constitute a promising explanatory tool but one that must be expanded. As such, these findings have important implications for social psychological theory and for cognitive models of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dissociations between medial prefrontal cortical subregions in the modulation of learning and action.

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in various attentional functions. This experiment examined the involvement of mPFC subregions in the allocation of attention in learning and action as a function of the predictive accuracy of cues. Rats with dorsal (encompassing anterior cingulate, prelimbic, and infralimbic cortices) or ventral (encompassing mainly infralimbic and dorsopeduncular cortices and tenia tecta) mPFC lesions were trained in a multiple-choice discrimination task in which operant nosepoke responses to some visual cues were consistently (100%) reinforced (CRF) with food, whereas responses to other visual cues were partially (50%) reinforced (PRF). In challenge tests designed to assess attention in the control of action, responding was directed more to CRF cues than to PRF cues in sham and dorsal mPFC-lesioned rats, but ventral mPFC-lesioned rats showed similar levels of responding to both CRF and PRF cues. Nevertheless, when given a choice between simultaneously presented CRF and PRF cues in a cue competition test, all groups responded more to CRF cues. In a subsequent Pavlovian overshadowing phase designed to assess attention in the acquisition of new learning, previously trained CRF cues overshadowed conditioning to novel auditory cues more than did PRF cues in dorsal mPFC-lesioned rats, whereas the opposite pattern was observed in sham and ventral mPFC-lesioned rats. These results suggest a dissociation within the mPFC in the use of reinforcement prediction information to allocate attention for new learning and for the control of action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrospective revaluation of causal judgments under positive and negative contingencies.

Retrospective revaluation of causal judgments was investigated in a 2-stage procedure. In the 1st stage, compounds of 2 cues were associated with the outcome, whereas in the 2nd stage, a cue from each compound was trained by itself. Associating this cue with the outcome in the 2nd stage had no detectable effect on the causal rating of the other cue from the compound, whereas presenting it without the outcome enhanced the causal rating of the other cue. The retrospective revaluation of the causal rating of these productive cues and also of preventative cues depended on consistent pairing of the cues during compound training, suggesting a role for within-compound associations. These results favor associative accounts of retrospective revaluation that use separate excitatory and inhibitory learning processes rather than a general error-correcting learning algorithm. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Separate mechanisms recruited by exogenous and endogenous spatial cues: Evidence from a spatial Stroop paradigm.

The present experiments tested whether endogenous and exogenous cues produce separate effects on target processing. In Experiment 1, participants discriminated whether an arrow presented left or right of fixation pointed to the left or right. For 1 group, the arrow was preceded by a peripheral noninformative cue. For the other group, the arrow was preceded by a central, symbolic, informative cue. The 2 types of cues modulated the spatial Stroop effect in opposite ways, with endogenous cues producing larger spatial Stroop effects for valid trials and exogenous cues producing smaller spatial Stroop effects for valid trials. In Experiments 2A and 2B, the influence of peripheral noninformative and peripheral informative cues on the spatial Stroop effect was directly compared. The spatial Stroop effect was smaller for valid than for invalid trials for both types of cues. These results point to a distinction between the influence of central and peripheral attentional cues on performance and are not consistent with a unitary view of endogenous and exogenous attention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonmonotonic Extrapolation in Function Learning.

This article reports the results of an experiment addressing extrapolation in function learning, in particular the issue of whether participants can extrapolate in a nonmonotonic manner. Existing models of function learning, including the extrapolation association model of function learning (EXAM; E. L. DeLosh, J. R. Busemeyer, & M. A. McDaniel, 1997), cannot account for this type of extrapolation pattern. We present the results of an experiment in which participants were shown a series of paired stimulus-response magnitudes where the relationship between these 2 dimensions conformed to a cyclic function. Participants were shown to extrapolate from these training data in a nonmonotonic way, contrary to predictions from EXAM. A new model of function learning is presented, which predicts responses more accurately than EXAM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habit Learning and the Genetics of the Dopamine D? Receptor: Evidence From Patients With Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls.

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between the Ser9Gly (SG) polymorphism of the dopamine D? receptor (DRD3) and striatal habit learning in healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia. Participants were given the weather prediction task, during which probabilistic cue-response associations were learned for tarot cards and weather outcomes (rain or sunshine). In both healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia, participants with Ser9Ser (SS) genotype did not learn during the early phase of the task (1-50 trials), whereas participants with SG genotype did so. During the late phase of the task (51-100 trials), both participants with SS and SG genotype exhibited significant learning. Learning rate was normal in patients with schizophrenia. These results suggest that the DRD3 variant containing glycine is associated with more efficient striatal habit learning in healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automated study of simultaneous-cue olfactory discrimination learning in adult mice.

Adult C57BL/6J mice were trained in a fully automated operant task to discriminate between 2 simultaneously presented odors for water reward. Each mouse was trained on 16 different discrimination problems to a criterion of 90% correct in a block of 20 trials for each problem. Each of the mice tested reached criterion on all discriminations; the number of errors made before reaching criterion was greatest for the first few problems and decreased substantially thereafter. Acquisition performance on early trials of novel discriminations suggested that mice form learning sets for olfactory cues. The mice were trained on 4 additional problems and tested for memory with probe trials at retention intervals of 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Good retention of olfactory cues was seen even at the longest memory delay. Automated testing of olfactory discriminations should be useful for assessing learning and memory abilities in genetically modified mice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cues trained apart compete for behavioral control in rats: Convergence with the associative interference literature.

Contemporary theories of associative learning require cues be trained in compound for cue competition (interference) to occur. That is, Cues A and X should compete for behavioral control only if training consists of AX-outcome (O) trials and not if each cue is separately paired with O (i.e., X–O and A–O). Research with humans challenges this view by showing that A–O trials interpolated between training and testing of a X–O association impair responding to X (i.e., retroactive interference). In six conditioned suppression studies with rats, the authors demonstrate that two cues trained apart can each interfere with the potential of the other to predict the outcome. The authors conclude that this type of interference (a) reflects a failure to retrieve the target association due to priming at test of the interfering association and (b) is attenuated if the outcome is of high biological significance. These findings parallel previous reports in verbal learning research and suggest that a similar associative structure underlies some types of associations in nonverbal subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time as a guide to cause.

How do people learn causal structure? In 2 studies, the authors investigated the interplay between temporal-order, intervention, and covariational cues. In Study 1, temporal order overrode covariation information, leading to spurious causal inferences when the temporal cues were misleading. In Study 2, both temporal order and intervention contributed to accurate causal inference well beyond that achievable through covariational data alone. Together, the studies show that people use both temporal-order and interventional cues to infer causal structure and that these cues dominate the available statistical information. A hypothesis-driven account of learning is endorsed, whereby people use cues such as temporal order to generate initial models and then test these models against the incoming covariational data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new component of visual orienting: Implicit effects of peripheral information and subthreshold cues on covert attention.

Four experiments examined effects of peripheral cue stimuli on covert spatial attention. In Experiment 1 target stimuli were preceded by a pair of bilaterally presented cue letters. The relative location of the cues predicted target location (left or right), but participants were not informed of this. After a brief practice period, visual orienting was influenced by the letter cues. This implicit peripheral cuing effect was unrelated to participants' awareness of the cue-target relationship. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that visual orienting may occur independently of both perceptual awareness of the peripheral cue event itself and contingency awareness concerning the cue–target relation. Experiment 4 demonstrated that implicit peripheral cuing is qualitatively distinct from voluntary orienting. These findings are discussed in relation to work on spatial attention, implicit learning, and perception without awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Causal reasoning” in rats: A reappraisal.

It has recently been argued that rats engage in causal reasoning and they do so in a way that is consistent with Bayes net theories (Blaisdell, Sawa, Leising & Waldmann, 2006). This argument was based upon the finding that the tendency of cues to elicit approach to a food-well was reduced when their presentation was contingent on lever pressing. There is, however, an alternative interpretation of the critical experimental findings that is based on the simple principle of response competition: wherein lever pressing interferes with the tendency to approach the food well. Here the authors replicated Experiments 1 and 2a of Blaisdell et al. (2006) and found reciprocal patterns of lever pressing and food well approach during the critical cues. These results lend direct support for an interpretation in terms of response competition while providing evidence contrary to Bayes net theories, and are readily interpreted within the theoretical framework provided by traditional associative learning theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anxiety on attentional allocation and task performance: an information processing analysis

An information processing signal detection methodology was employed to examine attentional allocation and its correlates in both normal comparison (NC) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) participants. In particular, the impact of neutral distractor and negative feedback cues on performance of an attention vigilance task was investigated. Individuals with GAD (N = 15) evidenced impaired performance on an attention vigilance task relative to NC participants (N = 15) when neutral distractor cues were presented. Contrary to prediction, no group differences in performance were detected under conditions in which participants were presented negative feedback cues they were told were relevant to their performance. Instead, GAD participants exhibited improvement during the experimental task such that their performance was equivalent to NC participants. Across trials, the clinically anxious group endorsed significantly higher levels of worry and negative affectivity; however, they failed to respond with concomitant physical arousal (e.g. increased muscle tension). These data are discussed within the context of Eysenck and Calvo's (1992, Cognition and Emotion, 6, 409-434) processing efficiency theory. Additionally, the results of this investigation provide support for Barlow's (1988, Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic) conceptualization of anxiety as requiring the interaction of cognitive schema and physiological arousal.     

Postnatal high-peak blood ethanol concentration and external cue-based discrimination learning and reversal in the preweanling rat: Comparison with memory-based discrimination learning.

Postnatal exposure to ethanol that produces high-peak blood ethanol concentrations in artificially reared infant rats affects hippocampal neuroanatomy and discrimination learning based on memorial cues from a patterned (single) alternation (PA) schedule in preweanling rats as found by P. L. Greene et al (see record 1993-16537-001). In the present experiments, discrimination by preweanling rats exposed to ethanol in the same way was tested with nonmemorial, external cues. In this external cue-based discrimination and in its reversal, ethanol-exposed rats were not different from normal or artificially reared controls whether the cues were presented in a PA or random manner, although there was some evidence that the memorial cues from the PA schedule contributed to learning a discrimination based on external cues, suggesting that the deficit reported earlier in ethanol-exposed rats is a memorial deficit and not a general discrimination deficit. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpreting neutral faces as threatening is a default mode for socially anxious individuals.

The authors of the present study used an incidental learning paradigm to investigate the interpretation of neutral facial expressions in socially anxious individuals. Participants were asked to detect the location of a target following the presentation of a facial picture (i.e., cue). Unbeknownst to participants, the target location was contingent on the valence of the cue, and participants thus learned to associate different target locations with either positive or negative facial expressions. The authors subsequently used this learned association to assess interpretive biases. If socially anxious individuals interpret neutral faces in a negative manner, they should be faster to detect a target that appears in the location that is associated with negative face cues when the target is presented after a neutral face cue. The authors also assessed whether the anticipation of a feared situation influenced interpretive biases by comparing participants with and without a speech threat on this task. Results indicate that socially anxious individuals are characterized by an interpretive bias regardless of the threat manipulation. In contrast, nonanxious individuals interpreted neutral faces in a negative manner only when they were in the threat condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)